Saturday, October 5, 2019: Fort de la Pompelle, Battle of Ourcq River, Reims

We got to sleep in this morning with an assembly call for 9:00 am. I awoke at 7:26 am and cancelled my 7:30 am alarm. We packed and had a breakfast in the hotel before boarding the bus.

We started by visiting the memorial to the first major French tank engagement at Chemin des Dames. Of the 129 French tanks that took part in the battle, 89 were destroyed. Regardless, the French saw this as a successful engagement. While the French were pioneers with respect to the development of the tank, their strategy for its implementation would lead to disaster, both in this war and the next. The French considered the tank to be a infantry support weapon and deployed them piecemeal with various infantry formations. This strategy persisted from through WWI and WWII and led to their defeat.

The French CA-1 tank

A modern French tank built in the 1990's

We then moved on to the Fort de la Pompelle. They had a very impressive museum and an subterranean tour which was too long. This fort was one of seven surrounding the city of Reims. It was built in the late 19th century and abandoned by the French in 1913 (good timing) due to the introduction of high explosive artillery that made the fortifications obsolete. Little did they realize that the location of the fort was far more important. This fort was the only one that stayed in French possession and thus thwarted the German's plan to take Reims, only 40 miles from Paris.

Ouch! That had to hurt, but only for an instant

During the tour of Pompelle, we learned that there was a Russian Expeditionary Force deployed there. We next went to the memorial and cemetery of that unit. Of the total of 44,000 Russians sent to the Western Front, less than 600 survived.

On to the first major American engagement. The Battle of Ourcq River. Here the 42nd "Rainbow" Division earned its reputation in their attack on the La Croix Rouge Farm. Here the Division suffered over 50% casualties (~6,500 men) but took the objective after repeated attempts by the French had failed.

Remaining walls of the La Croix Rouge Farm

Just down the road was the collection cemetery for American troops. The Oise-Aisne Cemetery. Here, over 6,000 American soldiers, plus 241 missing are located. It was a very moving visit.

The poet Kilmer

We then visited the memorial to Quentin Roosevelt, son of Theodore Roosevelt. Quentin was an aviator who was shot down. Due to only his name, he was given the highest military honors. We were given the opportunity to walk about 3/4 of a mile up a muddy field to view the actual crash site. I stayed in the bus.

This then was our last stop for the day. We arrived at our Reims hotel about 5:00pm.